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2003 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

2003 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Classification Division I
Season 2002–03
Teams 12
Site Madison Square Garden
New York City
Champions Pittsburgh (1st title)
Winning coach Ben Howland (1st title)
MVP Julius Page (Pittsburgh)
Top scorers Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse)
Ben Gordon (Connecticut)
(50 points)
← 2002
2004 →
2002–03 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
East
Boston College 10 6   .625     19 12   .613
#11 Connecticut 10 6   .625     23 10   .697
Providence 8 8   .500     18 14   .563
Villanova 8 8   .500     15 16   .484
St. John's 7 9   .438     21 13   .618
Miami 4 12   .250     11 17   .393
Virginia Tech* 4 12   .250     11 18   .379
West
#1 Syracuse 13 3   .813     30 5   .857
#8 Pittsburgh 13 3   .813     28 5   .848
Seton Hall 10 6   .625     17 13   .567
#15 Notre Dame 10 6   .625     24 10   .706
Georgetown 6 10   .375     19 15   .559
West Virginia 5 11   .313     14 15   .483
Rutgers* 4 12   .250     12 16   .429
† 2003 Big East Tournament winner
As of March 31, 2003; Rankings from Coaches' Poll
*Did not qualify for 2003 Big East Tournament

The 2003 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, a part of the 2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 12 – March 15, 2003 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Its winner will receive the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Tournament. It was a single-elimination tournament with four rounds and the four highest seeds (two from each Big East division) receive byes in the first round. The 6 Big East teams with the best conference records from both the East and West Divisions of the Big East Conference were invited to participate. Boston College, who had an identical 10–6 record as Connecticut, received the #1 seed from the East Division due to a tie breaker. Likewise, Syracuse, who had an identical 13–3 conference record to Pitt, received the #1 seed from West Division due to tiebreakers. Virginia Tech from the East Division and Rutgers from the West Division failed to make the tournament.
Pittsburgh defeated Connecticut, 74–56, in the finals to earn their first Big East Tournament Championship.



* denotes an overtime (OT) period

Note: By finishing in last place during the regular season in their respective divisions, Virginia Tech and Rutgers did not qualify for the tournament.

On March 15, Pittsburgh won their first-ever Big East Tournament, defeating Connecticut 74–56. They led by one at half-time, but quickly extended their lead in the second half. Jaron Brown led the Panthers with a career-high 19 points. Brown converted all six of his free throw attempts and was 6-of-9 from the field. He added ten rebounds to notch his fourth career double-double. Julius Page and Brandin Knight finished with 16 points apiece, and Chevon Troutman had 12. Page, a junior, averaged 13.3 points and 3.7 rebounds on 47.1 percent shooting (16-for-37) in the three tournament games. He won the Tournament MVP award. Knight averaged 12.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 steals, and 3.3 rebounds in the tournament.


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